3 Kommentare

Bill Roberts on Januar 31, 2018 at 3:28 pm

I was lucky enough to serve in 408 Troop from Feb 1966 until troop disbanded in 1972 and posted to 62 (Near East) Support Sqn Cyprus, and possibly the longest serving member of 408 Bridge Troop.
Not only was I the operator of the Beast but also remember with fondness the Coles Mk’s 2, 3, 4 & 5 across four full bridge seasons. A couple of memorable events were the trip to Berlin in a Mk5 and the Russians at the border crossing questioning if it was a crane of launcher vehicle. Hush Hush Crane job is Bielefeld HQ 1 (BR) Corps to lift a mock-up of what was to be the future CET ( Combat Engineer Tractor) complete with wooden bucket and recovery anchor, the guys from MEXE said it was designed to float, not surprised says I as it’s made of wood !!!
Another adventure was as the Crane Operator attached to 1 Field Sqn Nienburg to carry out the BAOR field user trials on the MGB. The bridging equipment arrived fresh from trials in the USA and was in completion with two other proposed new bridge types, from memory one German and one Swiss bridge. The MGB won hands down and was ultimately adopted by the British Army and this along with the expansion of the Amphibious Engineers in Hameln meant the writing was on the wall as far as the Crane Operators and 408 (Bridge) Troop were concerned.